Network: The CW Television Network - Vampire diaries:
The Vampire diaries show was created by Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWHn12LEn_4
"Are you really that dumb or just naturally blonde?" From this dialogue we see how Rebbecca a blonde character in the scene is perceived as being stupid by another female character. This scene has an effect on teenage girls especially girls who have blonde hair as they are seen by the Media as being unintelligent which makes them feel like they actually are dumb when they really aren't. This misrepresentation can cause self esteem issues for young girls who start to feel like they shouldn't voice their opinion as they may be considered dumb from what they might say. This negative pressure is generated by the media and it's felt by young teenage girls, who are consistently bombarded with these images of how a normal teenage girl should look, act and speak.T.V. shows like vampire diaries push young girls to be like these female teen characters on these shows.
A large age gap between an actresses age and their characters age is seen as the norm in the media industry, for instance Nina Dobrev is an actress who is 24 years old and she plays a seventeen year old high school girl in the Vampire diaries. Producers and directors of these teen dramas purposefully employee older actresses and actors to play these teen roles, as they want older people who will always have flawless skin and bring a certain maturity to the role, which most normal teenagers aren't able to do. I found this quite shocking as not only does the media misrepresent the image of teen girls by employing adults to act in teenage roles but they cause young girls to feel insecure with how they look as false images of what a normal teen looks like in the media, encourages young girls to develop eating disorders and confidence issues as, these teen female characters are stereotyped as always being beautiful and skinny. The Media industry manipulates societies perception or attitude towards young girls, who fall victim to the constant pressures of having to look and act older because of stereotypical characters on T.v. programmes like the Vampire diaries who look very mature for their supposed age.
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The image above of Rebbecca a main character on the show vampire diaries.
shows how a characters costume and makeup can alter their stereotype. For instance her top is quite revealing which makes us as an audience assume that she is a bit of a slut, she also is wearing quite alot of makeup and her hair colour is blonde these connotations reflect the media's view of teenage girls and impact the way society views young girls. Teenage girls are supposed to live up to these unrealistic character representations of themselves in these types of television shows.
I recently viewed these shocking statistics which prove how much the Media industry has affected Teenage girls worldwide as, being bombarded with images of impossibly skinny girls have contributed to thousands of
health issues which young girls have to face as they try to live up to these characters like Rebbecca. The implications of these types of shows are contributing to the increasing number of eating disorders and body issues.
At the age of thirteen, 53% of American girls are "unhappy with their bodies."
This grows to 78% by the time girls reach seventeen. This is an unfortunate epidemic spreading world wide as the media manipulates young girls into thinking they are not normal as unrealistic images supposedly representing them are displayed constantly. Therefore if the media continues to misrepresent teenage girls the number of eating disorders and mental health issues will rise dramatically, these kind of T.V. programmes like Vampire diaries may seem harmless in the beginning but the messages of being incredibly thin and wearing large amounts of make are the only way to be seen as beautiful in society.
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